City election in the hands of voters

Candidates for Ottawa city council and the mayor's jobwrapped up their campaigns on Sunday, with an unprecedented number of men and women running for office. There were 20 candidates for mayor alone.

Ottawa voters started casting ballots in the municipal election at 10 a.m. Monday, and the polls will close at 8 p.m.

Voters can either show a single piece of identification, with name, signature and current address, or present two pieces of ID, one showing the name and signature, and the second with the name and address.

Jim Watson

As one of the four men considered front runners in the race to be mayor, Jim Watson spent part of Sunday afternoon flipping burgers outside his campaign headquarters with Ottawa restaurateur Dave Smith -- nourishment for the army of campaign volunteers who spent the weekend criss-crossing the city.

"We've had a good day today, and I'm very proud of the campaign our team's run. We kept to our positive message, and we're looking forward to the results tomorrow night," Watson said.

Larry O'Brien

Larry O'Brien said his team was also working hard to get the vote out, but, just in case, he sought some divine intervention.

"I was at church this morning, and it was good to hear the prayers for Ottawa to be blessed with a good mayor, I prayed as well, so if God is willing, I am willing."

Clive Doucet

Clive Doucet said people are now starting to see him as a viable alternative to O'Brien and Watson.

"They're realizing, hey there's a difference between the Watson, or the O'Watson campaign, and the Doucet campaign, and they're coming to us in droves, it's like a dam has been broken," he said.

Andy Haydon

That leaves Andy Haydon, characterized as a single-issue candidate because of his relentless criticism of the light-rail tunnel, a plan he says will bankrupt the city.

"But even so, it's the biggest issue of it all. It's called money," Haydon said.

When asked if his message got out to people, he replied, "no."

One candidate for mayor withdrew Monday morning. Sean Ryan said he is now supporting candidate Charlie Taylor.